


Life In A Dream

by crazyCMfan



Category: The Good Fight (TV), The Good Wife (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Family Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Lockner, My happy ever after Lockner, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:01:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25194322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crazyCMfan/pseuds/crazyCMfan
Summary: Will's last thoughts, as he lay dying on the court floor, centered around one person, and the only thing he ever regretted in his life. But he might find out that there are still good things happening to good people. And not everything is as it seems. Lockner One-Shot
Relationships: Will Gardner/Diane Lockhart
Comments: 5
Kudos: 20





	Life In A Dream

So that's what it's like getting shot, it was certainly not like in the movies. Will thought after some time the pain would subside, but that wasn't the case, he was lying here for a few minutes now, and the pain was still agonizing. With every shallow breath, he felt like there was a knife slowly pushing deeper into his neck, Will could feel how his lungs filled with less air each breath he took, and it got harder to breathe.

Will never paid any attention to the courtrooms itself; he had been in hundreds of them and never noticed how fucking ugly they were. He stared up at the ceiling and couldn't believe he never noticed how ugly they were, but he would still miss them. 

He would miss the most significant part of his life, his job, the fights, the winning everything that came with it. He loved his job, he loved being a lawyer, even though it sometimes required him to defend assholes and big firms who didn't deserve it, without them they wouldn't have the money to help the innocent people.

Polmar was leaning in, and out of his view. The pain exponentiated when he pressed down on his wound. Will was sure he lost consciousness for a moment, but nothing was different when his sight returned. 

He hadn't called his sister back. She had called the night before, but Will had been too busy. He regretted it now, even though it was probably a trivial call, just asking how things were going and telling him the latest gossip in her neighborhood. But it would have been a chance to say goodbye, and Will knew he wouldn't get a chance to do so again.

He would die, Will wasn't stupid, he knew it. He would die today, he would die here in court. Was it pathetic to die this way? To get shot in court by his own client? Was he the first lawyer to die here? Surprisingly he didn't regret being Jeffery's lawyer; where was the point in that now? He regretted only one thing, and it was the same thing that made him hate Jeffery. 

He had never told Diane he loved her, with all his heart, and Grant was a fucking asshole for taking that chance from him. 

Will should have told Diane years ago, probably when he fell in love with her, but he was a coward. What chance did he have with Diane? She was an amazing woman, beautiful, intelligent, sexy, witty. Simply everything he ever searched for in a woman. But he was scared he would ruin their wonderful friendship and partnership when he tried to turn it into something romantic. He was scared she wouldn't want him because in that case, it would hurt him, Diane didn't know that she was the only person who could really hurt him. 

He wished he had told her sooner, maybe it was only wishful thinking during his last minutes, but if Diane magically returned his feelings, they might've had years together. Moved in together, married, Will hadn't thought often about marriage, in fact only with Diane, but it had been an honest thought. A real one. 

It was too late now. Will would never see her again, never hear her laugh, or joke around with her again. He loved dancing with her, being close to her. Even if they had often fought, and Diane had done him wrong in the interview, she was still the most important person in his life. If only he could say goodbye. He didn't even get to kiss her once.

Diane would never know that she was the most important person in his life and the only woman he had ever truly loved with all his heart. She was the one for him, and he had let the chance of a life together run through his fingers.

"Diane..." he whispered, and Polmar leaned down again. 

"What? What did you say?" 

"Diane...tell..." 

"What do you want me to tell her?" Polmar asked back, his fingers still on the wound, vainly trying to stop the blood flow. 

"Love her...always...have," he finally managed to say. 

"Alright, I'll tell her, but you have to stay awake okay, Will? So you can tell her yourself," Finn said, but Will couldn't hear him anymore. 

Thinking about Diane, Will's last breath left his body, and his sight faded into darkness before his heart stood still.

* * *

After what could have been years or moments, the darkness around him began to lift slowly until he unmistakenly identified sunlight shining on his face and through his closed eyelids. He felt warm and cozy, relaxed. All the pain was gone, he could breathe normally again, so he did just that.

He took a deep, slow breath. His surroundings smelled foreign and familiar at the same time, which confused him. It was the smell of fresh air in the morning, flowers, home, and something he always associated with Diane. Funny, he had never believed in heaven or anything like that, but if this was heaven, he could lay here forever. 

Then some sound reached his ears. Was that wind blowing through trees? And birds' twittering? A smile played around his lips, it was like this place whatever it was, tried to recreate the earth, like some 5D cinema. 

Curious what he would see, Will finally opened his eyes. What he saw did surprise him immensely. It was a ceiling, a white wooden ceiling. Turning his head to his left, Will saw he was actually lying in a bed, the bedside to his left wasn't made, someone had used it. 

He saw an old-looking wooden sideboard at the bluish-gray wall to his left, on top of it stood a vase full of lilies and some candles. There was a large window next to the sideboard, and he could see tree branches; the window was open, which explained the fresh air. Next to the bed was a nightstand, on which stood a lamp, an alarm clock, a glass of water, and a well-thumbed book. The sight looked so familiar like he had seen it a million times before.

Just when Will wanted to turn his head to his right side, he heard something. Giggling? He turned his head and saw a nightstand with his things on it, another window, and a fireplace with a loveseat in front of it. No sight of anyone there, but then he heard the giggle again and looked down beside him and was met with two crystal blue eyes watching him near the middle of the bed. 

In the next moment, a little girl rose next to the bed behind which she apparently had been hiding. She had long dark blonde hair, which was still a bit tousled from sleep, she wore a white nightdress with small blue dots. The girl, around five or six, smiled brightly at him, and he could see that one of her front teeth was missing. She had a cute button nose, some freckles, and those beautiful blue eyes that looked awfully familiar. 

"Good morning, Daddy!" she said with a high, clear voice and crawled onto the bed. "Mommy said breakfast is ready!" she beamed at him and then hugged him, wrapping her little arms around him as best as she could, and at that moment his whole life came rushing back to him. 

His real life. 

The successful law firm he ran after leaving Stern, marrying the woman he loved, having a daughter. His perfect, real life.

"Good Morning Ella," He said naturally and wrapped his arms around his daughter as he sat up in bed. 

"Let's go, Daddy! Or Mommy will eat all the pancakes!" his little girl said and tried to pull him with her. 

"Alright, alright, we can't have that." He got out of bed, and Ella grabbed his hand and eagerly pulled her father down the stairs and into the kitchen. 

"Daddy's awake!" Ella announced upon entering the kitchen, and Will found the love of his life, his wife, and mother of his children standing by the stove in the open kitchen. 

"That was about time, I thought you wanted to get up earlier today?" Diane said, not looking up from the last pancake she made. She wore his old Georgetown T-shirt and some matching pajama pants, her hair was undone, and there was not an ounce of make-up on her perfect face, and she couldn't look more beautiful to Will as at this moment.

Without further thinking, he walked over to Diane, turned her around, and kissed her deeply. At first, Diane was surprised, but then she returned his kiss and wrapped her arms around him. 

"Wow, where did that come from? And I'm not complaining." she said, smiling when they parted and pushed the pan from the cooktop, so the pancake wouldn't burn. Will pressed another kiss to her lips and then stroked a strand of hair behind her ear as he looked into her eyes.

"Nothing, you're beautiful, and I love you," Will said, and then his hand laid on her pregnant belly, at seven months the shirt stretched around it quite strongly. In the next moment, Will thought his heart would jump out of his chest in joy when he felt their baby kick against his palm.

"I love you too, even though your child kept me awake for the better part of the night," Diane answered and laid her hand on his own. "Will? Everything alright?" she asked, genuinely surprised when she saw the tears in his eyes. 

"I just- I had a strange dream, and it felt so real, but you were not with me. I'm just so happy that this my life, with you and Ella and the baby...you don't know how much I love you." 

Diane kissed him again and squeezed his hand. "I do know, and we love you too Will," 

"I'm huuungry!" Ella whined from the table, oblivious of the conversation her parents had, and Will chuckled. He grabbed the plate with the pancakes, and the two sat down at the table to eat breakfast together. 

"So did you take on the Grant Case?" Diane asked after a while of peaceful breakfast conversation. Will almost choked on his sip of coffee. Had this strange dream been a warning? The thought alone that a part of his dream could come true scared him, but he sure as hell wouldn't let that happen. Not this time.

"What?" 

"That's what you said kept you longer at work yesterday, are you Grant's new lawyer?" his wife asked, and Will thought about it. He hadn't made a decision yesterday, something had felt off, and he wanted one more night to think about it. 

"No, I won't...I think nothing good will come out of this." 

"Oh, okay, well, I won't complain. Now you can help us paint the nursery for the new occupant." Diane said with a smile, and Ella cheered, her father had been so busy lately, and she loved the idea he would be there after all.

"Can we paint it pink?" 

"Ella, sweetie, we don't know if the baby is a girl or a boy," Diane answered with a smile, but Will raised his hand.

"Well, I know it's going to be a boy, so you two can't gang up on me anymore!" 

"Hey! We don't do that right, Ella?" 

"Right!" Ella agreed with her mother and grinned at her father. 

"That's why I need an accomplice, I don't stand a chance at you two," Will answered with a fake pout. 

"Don't be sad, Daddy, I love you," Ella said and sat in her father's lap to kiss his cheek. 

"I'm not sad, I could never be happier, I'm here with you, your mom and your little brother or sister. That's all I need." Will said as he pressed a kiss to Ella's head and squeezed Diane's hand.

This was real. This was his life, and Will had never appreciated it enough before, but he would now.

* * *

  
Hello  
I had to get this (partly happy) little Lockner piece out of my head! I had to give Will a happy end (And because I'm a Lockner shipper it had to be about them) because he fucking deserved it.  
And because there are so few stories about the two, I decided to post it for you guys to enjoy, which I really hope you do!  
Leave a comment! :)


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